Americans, despite our wealth and excessive spending on “healthcare” are some of the sickest people in the world. The statistics are staggering at how unwell we have become. However, this is not too surprising with our addiction to fake food, pesticide-soaked crops, mineral depleted soils, sugar laden diets; obsession with soda, energy drinks and alcohol; toxic exposures from many sources coupled with our exceptionally cushy sedentary lifestyles. Not very uplifting I know, but this is a reality we as a nation must face.
“The health of Americans is far worse than the health of people in other countries despite the fact that we spend more money on health care,” says report author Steven H. Woolf, MD, MPH, during a news conference. He is a professor of family medicine at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond. “This has been going on since 1980 and getting progressively worse. I am struck by the gravity of our findings.” (Steven H. Woolf and Laudan Aron & Understanding, 2013)[1]
This health disadvantage exists at all ages from birth to age 75 and in all socioeconomic groups. “Even those who are insured and college educated and have high incomes seem to be in worse health than people in other nations,” he says.
The report reveals the United States ranks as one of the worst of developed nations in nine key health areas, including: Infant death and low birth weight, pregnancies and sexually transmitted infections, prevalence of HIV and AIDS, drug-related deaths (recreational and prescription), obesity and diabetes, heart disease, chronic lung disease and disability.
Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar blamed the large number of US coronavirus cases and deaths on the number of Americans with “greater risk profiles” during an interview on Sunday. Speaking on CNN’s State of the Union, Mr Azar was asked why the US appeared to have a disproportionately high number of deaths compared to the rest of the world. He said Americans having more comorbidities puts them at a higher risk of developing severe complications if they contract Covid-19.
Asked to clarify whether he was blaming the American public for leading unhealthy lifestyles, Mr Azar said: “We have a significantly disproportionate burden of co-morbidities in the United States— obesity, hypertension, diabetes— these are demonstrated facts … that do make us at risk for any type of disease burden.”
He later said: “One does not blame an individual for their health conditions, that would be absurd.”
This statement is a summation of what is completely and utterly broken in today’s “healthcare” system in America. A vast majority of health conditions are completely due to lifestyle choices, poor eating habits, lack of exercise and our refusal to take care of our bodies in a natural and healthy way. Most people literally are abusing themselves through their health choices and then shocked when their bodies breakdown.
I believe we should shift the emphasis from “how to avoid a virus” to one of exploring all the ways we can optimize our health and boost our immune systems to be robust enough to face whatever life presents. [2]
America is known as the land of plenty and it is because of this abundance that we have a tendency to overindulge. We as a country seem to eat too much, drink too much, snack too much, sit too much and then expect the healthcare system to fix our overfed but ironically undernourished bodies with pills and miracle cures at the doctor’s office. And I believe this is what has created this perfect storm in our country dealing with the Coronavirus (COVID-19).
“This is on us,” Nicole Saphier, MD, recently told The New York Post. “We left ourselves vulnerable to this epidemic. Our health-care system would not be so overwhelmed right now if it was not already overwhelmed with our preventable chronic illnesses.”
We are spending $2.2 trillion on health care each year according to the Center of Disease Control “And 40 to 70 percent of those illnesses could be prevented” Saphier said.
In 2018 the United States spent $329 billion to treat cardiovascular disease and stroke. About 80 percent of those cases, a whopping $263 billion worth, were caused by poor diet, lack of exercise, alcohol use and obesity. And each year just those 2 conditions kill 300,000 people in the United States. Where are the daily tallies on these statistics and why don’t we shut down the corrupt food industry that fuels this Pandemic that has been ongoing for 20 years.
“Obesity is linked to diabetes, high blood pressure and stroke,” said Saphier, a radiologist at New York’s Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center and author of “Make America Healthy Again” (HarperCollins), a new book that examines our floundering health-care system. “All of those conditions render us susceptible to infectious illnesses — just what we are seeing with COVID-19,” Saphier says.
Here’s a novel idea, why not cut off the problem at its source and save 300,000 lives a year plus stop the COVID-19 Pandemic. Double win.
But as a Health Coach I want to be part of the solution. If you would like to learn more about how you can optimize your immune response to COVID-19 or just interested in seeing how we can work together towards your health goals, email me at Sandy@KCEssentialWellness.com.
[1] (Steven H. Woolf and Laudan Aron & Understanding, 2013) https://www.nap.edu/read/13497/chapter/1
[2] https://news.yahoo.com/coronavirus-trumps-health-secretary-says-183956806.html
[3] https://nypost.com/2020/04/18/americas-junk-food-diet-makes-us-more-vulnerable-to-coronavirus/
